Holding lug for railway telltale rods



April 7, 1931. H. RASMUSSEN 1,799,805

HOLDING LUG FOR RAILWAY TELL TALE RODS Filed Sept. 11, 1950 EQEZ MM $0 I r, i 4/ 17/02! i amuemtoz Floyd HlEnsmussew.

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Patented Apr. 7, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT @FFICE HOLDING LUG FOR RAILWAY TELLTALE RODS Application filed September 11, 1930. Serial No. 481,178.

This invention relates to railway bridge warnings, and more particularly to a lug for pivotally supporting a tell-tale rod for permitting it to be readily attached and de- 5, tached from below by the use of a holding ole. p One object of the invention is to provide a tell-tale lug of the above nature which is adapted to be attached to a horizontal crossarm carried by poles at the sides of a railroad track.

A further object is to provide a tell-tale lug of the above nature which will be simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture,

easy to install and manipulate, and very efficient and durable in use.

With the above and other objects in view, there have been illustrated on the accompanying drawing two forms in which the 1n- 90 vention may be conveniently embodied 1n practice.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 represents a perspective view of the tell-tale lug.

Fig. 2 is a side sectional view of the same,

showing the tell-tale rod in operating position.

Fig. 3 is a side sectional view of a modified form of tell-tale lug, also embodying the invention.

Fig. 4 is a front view of the upper loop portion of the tell-tale rod.

Fig. 5 is a front view of the pole bracket for attaching and detaching the lug.

Fig. 6 isa side view of the same.

Referring now to the drawing in which like reference numerals denote corresponding parts throughout the several views, the numeral 10 indicates the body of the tell-tale lug, and the numeral 11 a tapered screw integral with the upper end thereof for permanently attaching the lug to a horizontal cross-arm, not shown. A plurality of the lugs are intended to be attached to the crossarm at such a height above a railway track that flexible cords 12 on the lower ends of the tell-tale rods 13 will strike a brakeman on the top of a freight car to give warning that the car is approaching a bridge, thus permitting him to duck down in time to avoid being injured by collision with the bridge.

The tell-tale rod is provided on its lower end with an enlarged ball 13a which is adapted to be loosely secured within a cylindrical ferrule 13b attached as by screws to the flexible cord 12, (see Fig. 2).

The lug is provided with a hook 14 extending upwardly from one side of the body 10, said hook 14 having a curved inwardly-extending flattened lower section 15 and a straight outwardly-inclined extremity 16 which is adapted to receive the upper looped end 17 of the tell-tale rod 13. The flattened lower section 15 serves to prevent undesirable twisting motions of the rod 13 and the flexible cord 12.

In order to detachably lock the tell-tale rod 13 on the hook 14, provision is made of a ball 18 normally. located in contact with the shoulder between the curved section 15 and the straight extremity 16 of the hook 1 1. The ball 18 is adapted to be resiliently pressed outwardly at all times by one end of a coiled spring 19, the other end of which engages a screw plug 20 adjustably held within a horizontal threaded socket 21 in the lower part of the body 10, said socket 21. servingas a housing for the ball 18 and spring 19.

A small vertical locking screw 22 is located in the underside of the body in alinement with the screw plug 20 and is adapted when screwed against said plug to prevent rotation thereof.

One advantage of the present invention lies in the fact that when the tell-tale rod 13 is in operating position, the loop 17 on the end of said rod extends below the body of the lug and thus affords a purchase for the hold ing pole to be hereinafter described. Also the construction of the lug enables the loop of the tell-tale rod to be quite easily attached and detached therefrom.

Operation tached to a railway cross-arm, said rod will first be placed with the loop end 17 uppermost upon along pole 23 preferably constructed of wood as shown in Figs. 5 and 6.

The tell-tale rod 13 adapted to be detachably carried within a pair of grooved arms 2-: and formed in a bifurcated bracket member 26 secured to the pole 23 as by screws 27 and 28. The grooved arms and 25 are extended upwardly at 25 and 30 to form a rear support for the loop 17.

:in order to provide an auxiliary means for raisin and detaching; the rod 13, the bracket 26 is provided with a pair of horizontal lateral grooved arms 81 and The operator will then raise the pole 23 until the loop end 17 of the tell-tale rod 13 surrounds the inclined upper extremity 16 ot the hook l l. The pole23 will then be lowered until the arms 31 and 32 of the bracket 26 strike the ferrule 13?), thus pulling the loop 1. downwardly and causing the springpressed ball 18 to Q'lVQ way to the right viewed in Fig. 2. T he loop end 17 of the rod will then pass by the ball 18 into the lower end of the hook M, the ball 18 thereafter immediatcly snapping back to the left and securely holding the tell-tale rod 18 releasably in the locked position shown in Fig. 2.

To remove the tell-tale red, the operation is the reverse of that just described.

The modified form of the invention shown in Fig. 3 is similar to the first torm shown in Figs. 1 and 2 once it that two s )rin iressed balls are employed instead ot a single ball, and the loops of the tell-tale rods are inserted into a downwardly-opening socket instead of being hung upon a hook from above.

The modified form of tell-tale lug; comprises a body 33 having; an integral tapered cross-arm engaging screw 3% similar to the screw 11 above described. The body 33 i provided with a pair of side portions 35 and 35 having threaded alined sockets 37 and 38 in the outer ends of which are a pairot adjustable screw plugs 39 and 40 respectively, similar to the screw plug 20 of the first form of the invention. A pair of coiled springs ll and 4-2 are located in said sockets 37 and 38 and are adapted to press inwardly upon a pair of balls 43 and 44, the inner ends of which lie in contact with each other within a vertical downwardly-opening socket 4:5 in a depending flared section 46 of the body 38.

In the operation of the modified form of the invention, the telltale rod 13 may be inserted from below by pushing upwardly on the pole 23 until the loop 17 passes by the spring-pressed balls 43 and 44 which will then snap together and releasably lock the tell-tale rod in. position. To remove the telltale rod, it will merely be necessary to pull it downwardly by means of the holding pole, this operation being the reverse of the insorting operation described above.

l Vhile there have been disclosed in this specification two forms in which the invention may be embodied, it is to be understood that these forms are shown for the purpose of illustration only, and that the invention is not to be limited to the specific disclosures but may be modified and embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit. In short, the invention includes all the modifications and embodiments coming within the scope of the following claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new, and for which it is desired tosecure Letters Patent, is:

1. In a holder lug for a looped tell-tale rod of a bridge warning, a hollow body member having an open socket, a spring-pressed ball in said socket, a hook member in alinement with said socket and normally having said ball in contact therewith, said ball being adapted to be moved inwardly by the loop of said rod whensaid loop is pulled down over said hook member and to snap back into detachable locked position after said loop has reached its suspended position.

2. In a holder hug for a looped tell-tale rod of a bridge warning, a hollow body member having a horizontal open socket, a spring pressed ball in said socket at the open end thereof, a hook member in alinement with said socket and .normally having said ball in contact therewith, said ball being adapt-ed to be moved inwardly by the loop of said rod when said loop is being pulled down over said hook member and to snap back into detachable locked positionafter said loop has reached is suspended position.

8. In a holder lug for a looped tell-tale rod of? a bridge warning, a hollow body member having an open socket, an adjustable spring-pressed ball in said socket at the open end thereof, a hook member in alinement with said socket and normally having said ball in contact therewith, said ball being adapted to be moved inwardly by the loop of said rod when said loop is being pulled down over said hook member and to snap back into detach able locked position after said loop has reached its suspended position.

4:, In a holder lug tor bridge-warning tell-tale rod having a loop on its upper end, a body member having screw means for permanently attaching said lug to an oierhanging cross-arm, a socket in said body, one end of said socket being closed by a screw plug, a ball at the other end of said socket, a coiled spring in said socket between said plug and ball, a hook member extending upwardly from the lower part of said body and located in alinement with said socket to prevent the escape of said ball, said hook member having an outwardly inclined upper end to facilitate the attachment of the loop of the tell-tale rod.

5. In a holder lug for a looped tell-tale rod of a bridge warning, a hollow body member having an open socket, a spring-pressed ball in said socket, a flattened shield-shaped hook member in alinement with said socket and normally having said ball in contact therewith, said ball being adapted to be moved inwardly by the loop of said red when said loop is pulled down over said hook member and to snap back into detachable locked position after said loop has reached its suspended position.

6. In a holder lug for a bridge-warning tell-tale rod having a loop on its upper end, a body member having screw means for per manent-ly attaching said lug to an overhanging cross-arm, a socket in said body, one end of said socket being closed by a screw plug, a ball at the other end of said socket, a coiled spring in said socket between said plug and ball, locking means for holding said screw plug in adjusted position, a hook member extending upwardly from the lower part of said body and located in alinement with said socket to prevent the escape of said ball, said hook member having an outwardly inclined upper end to facilitate the attachment of the loop of the tell-tale rod.

7. In a holder lug for a bridge-warning tell-tale rod, a body member having means at its upper end for permanent attachment to an overhanging cross-arm, a socket passing through said body member, a pair of springpressed balls normally lying in contact with each other within said socket, and a vertical socket for permitting the upward insertion and removal of the looped end of a tell-tale rod between said balls.

8. Ina holder lug for a bridge-warning tell-tale rod, a body member, means to attach said body member to an overhanging crossarm, a socket in said body member, a spring pressed ball in said socket for holding said rod in suspended position, and means to form a stop for said ball to prevent it from escaping from said socket.

9. In a device for raising and lowering a tell-tale rod having a looped upper end, an elongated pole, a bracket mounted on the top of said pole, said bracket having a bifurcated upper extremity with a pair of vertical loop-engaging grooved arms, and a horizontal outwardly extending grooved memher to catch the loop in case the rod should fall outside the bifurcated section.

10. In a holder lug for a looped tell-tale rod of a bridge warning, a hollow body mem-' her having an open socket, a spring-pressed ball in said socket, a hook member in a1inement with said socket and normally having said ball in contact therewith, said ball being adapted to be moved inwardly by the loop of said rod when said loop is pulled down over said hook member and to snap back into detachable locked position after said loop has reached its suspended position, said hook I member being attached to said body memher by a reduced neck and having a widened intermediate section whereby said rod is free FLOYD H. RASMUSSEN. 

